Broadband boost in HSC
Residents in the farthest reaches of Hot Spring County will soon boast better broadband service than many urban communities in Arkansas, thanks to the hard work of rural telecommunication service providers in the area, in conjunction with state and federal funds allotted to them for the purpose of expanding broadband to the most rural and under- serviced parts of the county.
Access to broadband remains a critical issue in rural America, and Arkansas is near the bottom of the bunch in terms of availability. Reports vary greatly, but the Federal Communications Commission estimates about 14.5 million people in this country currently have no access to fixed broadband at the standard download/ upload speeds of 25 mbps/ 3mbps.
The Biden administration claims 30 million is the more accurate number of people without adequate broadband service, but a recent report from Broadbandnow Research puts that number closer to 42 million. Still another report based on internal data from Microsoft estimates that number to be about 120 million.
The discrepancies arise, in part, because the FCC relies on self- reported data from the largest service providers using Form 477, but according to Broadbandnow, “There is a widely acknowledged flaw with Form 477 reporting: if an ISP offers service to at least one household in a census block, then the FCC counts the entire census block as covered by that provider.”
Numbers and forms aside— no one in rural Arkansas really needs an outside report to tell them about the lack of broadband. Bismarck native and Hot Spring County Judge Dennis Thornton knows the problem firsthand, and he has been instrumental in organizing efforts between public officials, businesses and community leaders within the county to address the issue.
Thornton stated the residents’ desire for broadband became crystal clear during his Hot Spring County Conversations initiative, a series of public meetings that took place around the county in late2017 and 2018.
“Everywhere we went, in our Conversations, that was the topic of conversation. We need fiber to the home,” Thornton stated. The dialogue at those meetings helped city and county officials devise a 10- year strategic plan to implement the changes that were of the highest priority to the citizens, with access to broadband nearing the top of the wish list.
“We already knew there was a great need, but then the pandemic came along and the schools shut down, and people were having to work from home, then we realized across the nation what a serious problem we had in rural America, that we didn’t have broadband,” Thornton stated.
Thornton shared the problem one student from Glen Rose ran into while trying to do schoolwork virtually. The young man had to resort to parking in front of a local business to piggyback off their Internet in order to complete and submit his school assignments on time— a situation many HSC students have found themselves in, due to either spotty connections, or entirely no internet access at home.
Thornton said this and other views voiced at the meetings highlighted the growing need for Internet access in the home. “It made us realize that it was just as essential as electricity or sewer or water, those things you have to have to live,” stated Thornton. “So then we began to search for ways in the county that we might could make that happen.”
Judge Thornton also serves on the Board of Directors at Central Arkansas Telephone Cooperative, the rural telecommunications utility company that has served Bismarck, Donaldson, and surrounding areas of the county since 1951. Soon after the public meetings concluded, Thornton and CATC General Manager/ CEO Larry Frazier began searching for monetary resources to help them provide better broadband access to the people. “We knew that it would be a game- changer for our county,” Thornton stated.
Thornton and Frazier found the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a $ 20.4 billion initiative administered by the nonprofit Universal Service Administrative Company, under FCC management. The money for the RDOF program is drawn from a pool of subsidies and fees paid by telecommunication providers into the Universal Service Fund, which was established in 1997 and is overseen by the FCC to promote universal access of telecommunication services throughout the entire United States.
Census data is used to identify the areas, or census blocks, where the digital divide is most pervasive, and the RDOF funds are earmarked to bridge that gap. CATC and other companies like South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative competed in a reverse auction to earn the rights and the funding to expand broadband service across Hot Spring County in those census blocks.
Frazier said CATC is charged with completing work in their current service area, from the Point Cedar area in Bismarck east to Donaldson along Hwy. 67. They were also awarded the rights to run fiber in the census blocks that include Lono area down Hwy. 9 to the southeast corner of the county. An interactive map of both their current and expanded service areas can be found on their company website.
CATC’S expansion area under the RDOF program includes part of Rockport and areas west of I- 30, then snakes around the Ouachita River Unit, runs along Mt. Zion Road up Hwy. 9, circles the southern edge of the Malvern area and spreads from Hwy. 270 down to the southern edge of the county.
Frazier said the work in Donaldson is 100 percent complete and was made possible with other state funds that Gov. Hutchinson committed to the cause. The funds were awarded contingent on a public- private partnership between the service provider and county officials, who oversee any issues that may arise with the service.
As for the remaining census blocks, the Arkansas Department of Commerce’s Arkansas State Broadband Manager’s Report of Dec. 2020, “RDOF winners have an obligation to deploy to the territories they won within six years of when the award is finalized. They should reach 40% of the locations awarded by year three, 60% by year four, 80% by year five, and 100% by year six.”
Frazier shared that his company is ahead of schedule, and that work is almost complete in their original service area. “Within the next three months, our service area will be 100 percent fiber to the home,” Frazier stated. “As soon as we finish up in our service area, we’ll be headed straight to Lono on Hwy. 222, and from Lono we’ll go south, and then we’ll go north up Hwy. 9.”
CATC is deploying fiber buried underground using a polyurethane duct installation system, which is more expensive initially but preferable because burying the cable protects it from the elements, and placing the cable in duct adds another layer of protection, making this option more reliable than alternative methods.
Customer satisfaction is reflected in the online reviews of the company, which have improved during Frazier’s tenure as CEO, and since the move to fiber spread across their service area. One happy customer stated, “Been using it for almost a year now and the internet has never went down. CATC fiber optic internet is way faster and for a much lower price than the big telecom company I had before I moved from Chicago!” The most recent online review of CATC states, in part, ” Thank you for making sure I could work from home on the day I moved in.”
Frazier said the company is proud of the progress they’ve made over the last four years, adding, “We are really anxious to get started and help out the people around Lono and that area because right now, they really don’t have anything. They’re relying on cell towers usually, something like that, so we’re really looking forward to getting out there and getting started.”
Thornton said the people CATC service are fortunate to have Frazier at the helm, getting the job done for them.“We’re very lucky to have Larry, and the vision that he has for our county and his pro- activeness, to jump all over something like this and expand our areas, it just changes the very climate of our county, for our future and our growth,” Thornton stated.
South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative is another company charged with expanding broadband service in sections of Hot Spring County. Housed in Arkadelphia, they’re one of 17 distribution cooperative members of the Arkanass Electric Cooperative Corporation, which serves approximately 62 percent of the state.
SCAEC was awarded the rights and funding to complete expansion projects in the outer recesses of the county, including the Bonnerdale area to the west and the Gifford/ Glen Rose areas and into the Butterfield and Magnet Cove areas in the eastern section of the county.
SCAEC Vice President of Customer Relations, T. J. Curtis, said that his company is excited to get broadband expanded to people in those areas who need it most, adding that plans for their appointed areas in HSC have commenced and are at varying stages. “They’re all in the process of either/ or data collection, design, construction, they’re all in that, they’re all already in that phase.”
“We’re getting ready to update our 2022 map, our plan, as well as our website with construction phases and times of when to expect, you know, phone calls and things of that nature,” Curtis stated, adding that the company is striving to post more specific information about their plans and their progress to their website by mid- Feb.
Aside from governmental delays in funding administration, Curtis stated the plethora of supply chain issues have impacted their receipt of materials. He said that coordinating with other entities sometimes makes the wheels of progress turn slower, but when works begins full- steam, the process should move quickly. SCAEC will be doing an aerial fiber installation using poles, and some of that groundwork is already complete through their electrical system.
Curtis said SCAEC feels confident about the broadband speeds and the customer service they will be able to offer to the residents in their service area. “If your Internet goes out on Friday, it’s not Monday when we come out to fix it, we come out that Friday night, that night to fix it,” Curtis stated. “We’re trying to treat it with the utmost customer service.”
Thornton said expanding broadband is investing in the future, and a true necessity in our ever- changing world. “Change is coming, and it’s our job to steer it. so that’s what we’re trying to do,” stated Thornton. “What we’re doing at CATC is probably the most important thing that has happened to this county in probably 50, 60, 70 years, it’s that essential to growth in this county.”
Thornton is excited for all of Hot Spring County to cross that digital divide. “For our county to be built out 95 percent in three years of fiber to the home, that’s what makes people want to live here,” Thornton stated. “That’s what gives you housing industry, that’s gives you a workforce, a workforce brings industry, your tax dollars grow, your schools grow, your roads get better, I mean, it’s just a revolving circle that all begins with broadband. That’s the key.”